The optical fibre Internet: Where next?

Summary form only given. Powering the optical fibre internet with its huge global reach, photonics has changed our lives. Optical fibres snake across continents and oceans carrying terabits per second of data in a vast information network that brings untold human connectivity. But capacity demand continues to grow at a startling rate, doubling every two years, while the internet is estimated as burning several percent of world energy usage. The optical internet is reaching its capacity limits. The solution to these consequences of unbridled demand is more photonics, reaching further into the network with optics to overcome the existing bottlenecks and employing next-generation optical components — Internet 2.0. The great success of optical fibres and planar circuits in telecommunications has generated numerous tantalising applications in a number of related fields, such as sensing, bio- and nano-photonics and high-power lasers. Incredibly, the same fibres that carry tiny internet signals can also generate kilowatts of power, sufficient to cut through inch-thick steel and perhaps drive the next generation of high energy physics. The talk will celebrate optical fibre technology and asks what next?